BLOG

This is the blog of Steve Burkett of Italy, Our Italy

The Results Are In: Part 1

The results of the 7th Annual International Pollux Awards are in and I’m happy to say that I received recognition in this prestigious competition! There were entries from 1,000 photographers from 62 countries in the competition, and I had 20 photos selected for recognition.

This is a different kind of photo competition than I’ve entered before. Instead of recognizing winning photos, they recognize winning photographers – a bit confusing, but there is a distinction - they say. They take the body of work submitted and evaluate the photos. They then assemble the best photos in order of preeminence to determine the winning photographer. For instance, in the ‘Nature’ category you will see that I was the Winner, but three photos made up that winning recognition for me, the photographer. Get the difference? I’m a bit hazy on it myself, but it doesn’t really matter as far as I’m concerned.

Recognition Categories

There are several photo categories and three recognition categories for the photographers, as follows:

Nominated: These are the photos selected by the competition’s producers that are passed on the jurors for further evaluation to select the Winner and Runner-Up photographers

Runner-Up: A photographer selected for recognition by the jurors but not the Winner

Winner: The one winning photographer for a category

The Results

Here are my results for the 7th Annual International Pollux Awards, along with the photos involved.

Nature -- Winning Photographer!

Winner: 3 photos

Fine Art

Nominated: 2 photos

Landscapes & Seascapes

Runner Up: 1 photo

Nominated: 2 photos

People, Culture and Daily Life

Nominated: 1 photo

Street Photography & Cityscapes

Nominated: 5 photos

Animals and Wildlife

Nominated: 1 photo

Still Life & Abstractions

Runner Up: 3 photos

Architecture & Bridges

Nominated: 1 photo

Nudes

[Sorry, I was unable to enter that category this year…but I’m working on it!]

Ciao for now,

Steve

Your Venice Arrival

Why Go?

In our opinion, Venice is the most excellent destination in Europe. If you haven’t been, I would suggest you get there! For those who haven’t been to Venice, it’s hard for those who have been there to describe the whole experience.

“If you’ve read a lot, nothing is a great as you imagined. Venice is…Venice is better.””

— Fran Lebowitz

Since Venice is an island in the middle of a lagoon, getting to Venice and getting into Venice are two different things. And then getting to your hotel within Venice is another thing. With these tips, I know your grand entrance into Venice will be fun and easy!

Arrival By Air

If you fly to Venice, you will arrive at Marco Polo International Airport, where you will still be 5 miles from the island as the crow flies. From the airport, your choices are to take a bus, a vaporetto (water bus) or a water taxi.

Bus

This would be my least favorite way to enter Venice. The bus takes about 45 minutes and at the end of the ride, after crossing the causeway to the mainland, you will be deposited at the Piazzale Roma. Now you are within the confines of the city, but you still need to get to your hotel, where you most likely need transportation via vaporetto or water taxi, anyway.

There is absolutely no charm in taking the bus – I’ve done it, and if you are looking for romance, look somewhere besides the bus from the airport into Venice.

Vaporetto

A vaporetto is a water bus. Just like the buses back home, they are slow and very often very, very crowded – and don’t forget that you have your luggage to deal with.

The trip from the airport to the closest vaporetto stop for Venice proper is about 40 minutes (but more than likely you will not be staying in this out-of-the-way area) . To get to a vaporetto stop close to your hotel (let’s assume the San Marco stop) will take about 1 ½ hours.

Now you are at the San Marco stop (or some other stop along the Grand Canal) with your luggage. Do you know that there are 409 bridges in Venice? And that nearly all of the bridges have steps? Begin your journey to your hotel from the closest vaporetto stop and you will more than likely have an adventure to tell your grandchildren about. The ACTV website suggests that only one piece of luggage is included with your ticket, though I have never seen anyone make an issue of it – but be aware that you need to get on and off of the vaporetto quickly – and you are lugging around that luggage (does the word ‘lugging’ relate to ‘luggage’ in some way?).

My suggestion: You will have plenty of opportunity to ride a vaporetto while in Venice, but I wouldn’t suggest that this be your inaugural ride.

Water Taxi

This is the way to go. Yes, it will cost a bit more, but there are some definite advantages.

First is the time advantage. Don’ t you want to get going in Venice to see the sites, have a nice lunch, etc.? I’m thinking that the time from airport to Grand Canal is about 20 minutes.

Our Water Taxi Driver on the Grand Canal -- Heading to Our Hotel

Second, the price of the water taxi will cover your group of two to four persons with several pieces of luggage. If you take the bus or vaporetto, don’t forget to multiply the ticket price by the number of people in your party.

The third advantage is that you will be taken more-or-less directly to your hotel. Yes, many of the hotels have water gates where your water taxi will drop you off right at your hotel, where the hotel bellman helps you and your luggage off of the water taxi. Where a hotel does not have its own water gate, there will be a small canal that will provide very close access to most hotels.

Palazzo Reflections in a Water Taxi's Shiny Deck

Our favorite hotel is the Hotel Flora which is not on a canal. But on our second visit there, we found that there was a narrow passage from a close-by canal that we were not aware of. Our water taxi driver said ‘just go down that passage, take a right and then a left and you will be at your hotel in about 50 feet with no steps to climb”. He had called ahead and our hotel bellman was there to greet us at a side gate.

Finally the cost: expect to pay from 100-120 Euros, depending on whether you have 2 or 4 persons in your group.

So, if you fly to Venice, I suggest that a water taxi be your mode of transportation from the airport, directly to your hotel.

Arrival by Train

When taking a train to Venice, but sure to get your ticket all the way to Venice Santa Lucia station and not just the Venice Maestre station, which is the station just before crossing the causeway to the island of Venice.

After departing the train and exiting the station, you will be in the bustling Campo Ferrovia. What a sight! The Grand Canal is right before you, along with the pretty church of San Simeone Piccolo. Now what!?

Vaporetto

To your left as you come out of the station is the vaporetto stop and ticket kiosk. As previously discussed, there are issues with getting your luggage onto and off of the vaporetto.

And the crowd to get tickets and then get onto the vaporetto? I’d say, “forget it!”. Unless you are arriving in Venice in the off-season, there could be a hundred people waiting on the vaporetto transport experience. And, as none of you will have the benefit of already having your ACTV tickets, plan to stand in line at the ticket kiosk (as you ride the vaporetto later, you can have the advantage of carrying a multi-day or multi-ride ticket so you can bypass the ticket kiosks).

But, depending on your arrival time and the season, you may find very few people awaiting the vaporetto. But again, you will now need to get to your hotel, so the vaporetto information in the ‘Arrival by Air” discussion applies.

Water Taxi

Directly in front of you as your come out of the train station is the water taxi loading area. There is always a taxi or two waiting there to whisk you away to your hotel – luggage included. And as discussed previously, you will more-than-likely be dropped off right at your hotel’s water gate.

Does this water taxi cost more than the vaporetto? Most definitely. Think about spending 60 Euros. Is it worth it? That’s up to you based on your travel style.

Arrival by Rental Car

Hmmmm. Why would you want to do that? You are going to have to park your car in the large parking structure at Piazzale Roma and leave it there for the duration of your time in Venice. You do know that you can’t drive in Venice, right? You walk or take a boat – period. But if you must drive to Venice, just read the ‘Arrival by Air’ ‘Bus’ discussion since you will be at Piazzale Roma. Because of Venice’s location in Italy (kind of at the end-of-the-line, so to speak), we usually begin or end our Italy trips in Venice. So, if we were driving in Italy, we would drop off or pick up our rental car in Milan, Florence, Verona or some other city along the rail system, and then use the train.

Alternate Transport

Now, if you know a guy with a boat...

Summary

Go to Venice by bus, vaporetto, water taxi, or rental car. But go.

Ciao for now!

Steve

Get Lost!!!

Have you ever been lost?

Maybe you were on your way somewhere important and you were late getting started. Maybe your dinner reservation, which required that it be made 3 months in advance, was about to be released and you've taken some wrong turns and you've lost your bearings. I know these are frustrating experiences.

But it doesn't always have to be frustrating if you're lost in the right places, and have the time to be lost.

“We’ve been lost, only to be found in some amazing place! ”

In Italy, we’ve been lost…hopelessly. And hopefully, we'll be hopelessly lost again soon.

Being lost can be frustrating or it can be fascinating. Our Italy wandering experiences have been of the fascinating variety.

Radda in Chianti

Take the small road just south of Radda in Chianti that we mistakenly took in a driving rain. What we thought was a road (at least it looked like one on Google maps - I learned something from that experience - but to be fair, in retrospect, it did suggest that our driving speed would be only 8mph!) soon transitioned into nothing but a two track trail. Lost again, dang it. Our small, low slung rental was complaining about the high center, but there was no way to turn around. We eventually made it through a circuit on which we really shouldn't have been driving. But, as the rain let up, the estate in the photo below was spread before us, with mist rising from the trees to the left with a villa located on a hillside in the middle of a vast vineyard. Our breath was taken away!

And as we drove on, we came upon other photo opportunities like these two:

Once again, we were lost, only to be found in some amazing place!

Val d'Orcia

Then, let’s take a wrong turn near Pienza in the Val d’Orcia. We should have gone right, but went left. Lost again. We could have turned around, but experience has taught us to go with the flow and continue on down the road. It was getting close to the end of the day, which brought us this gorgeous Val d'Orcia sunset.

Lost again! Only to be found in another amazing place!

Near Castello Brolio

Should we take that little gravel road just before getting to Castello Brolio? After all, we want to see the castle and taste their wine? Sure, why not - we've got time!

We got this nice view of the castle and some images which we would have missed from the highway. Technically, we weren't lost, but as we want to accomplish certain things during the day, we were taking a bit of a risk.

The little country-side chapel just above was found tucked away off the gravel road in the previous photo - just beyond the poppies and before the tall cypress trees - just off to the right. We would never have known it existed if we hadn't dared to take that little gravel road to who-knew-where?

Venice - Anywhere in Venice!

And then there’s Venice, where getting lost is not an art, but a normal occurrence. When in Venice, just plan on being lost. I mean, when you look up and find two signs, both reading “Per San Marco”, one with an arrow pointing left and one with an arrow pointing right, you don’t have much choice but to get lost. But along the way, plan on finding some hidden-away gem. Like the one in this photo below – which I came upon taking a ‘short cut’ after turning into one of those dark, low ceiling’d sotoportego - a tunnel-like passage - this one about 50' long. Once found, I’ve returned many times, whether it is a short cut in my travels, or not.

So, while in Venice, Tuscany, or near the back-roads in your travels at home, forget going from Point A directly to Point B. Once starting toward Point B, don’t worry if you happen upon Point G, Point V or Point R, before making it to Point B. Allow enough time to enjoy the journey.

And then like us, you will find yourself lost, only to be found in some amazing place!

Ciao, for now!

Steve

Serendipity, Stakeouts & Targeting - Part 2

Recap

Last week's post introduced the ways we typically go about capturing a photo. I suggested that those ways were serendipity, stakeouts and targeting, and in that post, I provided my definitions for each. If you didn't read that post, or if you need a refresher before continuing, please read it here.

The Challenge

In that Part 1 post, I invited you to guess which of those 3 processes were used for the 'Procession'. And, I left you as I played the theme music for the Final Jeopardy question.

Once again, here is the image.

So, here's the question, again. Was this image a result of:

1. A stakeout, where I waited and waited at this location until the two gondole were just perfectly aligned in a ‘Procession’?

2. Serendipity, where I happened upon a location and without having to wait hardly at all, one gondola passed by just as another was coming down the canal to create ‘Procession’? Perfect timing! What a surprise! I love it when that happens! Yes!

3. Targeting, where my goal was to get an image that I envisioned, and which I would call ‘Procession’, and then I went out to make it happen – whatever it took?

And the Answer Is...

Actually, this photo was completely targeted. There was neither stakeout involved, nor was there anything remotely resembling serendipity happening as far as "Procession" is concerned. Here’s what happened.

Before leaving Colorado to go to Venice, I had the idea for ‘Procession’ in my mind. While in Venice, I gathered all of the elements that I would need to come up with the final image. I didn't spend any time at all between those two bridges waiting for those gondole to pass, because those two bridges don’t even exist.

Here are the elements that make up the final image for ‘Procession’.

First, as I walked by gondole, I took photos of the ‘risso’ at their rear…

…and the ‘ferro’ at their front.

Strolling Venice, I was always conscious of the bridges I would use in my image. As there are 409 bridges in Venice, crossing over the 177 canals that divide Venice into 117 islands, I had a lot from which to choose.

I never found just the right pair of close-together bridges, though. But no worry – that’s why we have Photoshop. So, I set my target to a bridge with a nice curve with no distracting railings and with some other elements of interest, like the window. The bridge below suited my purposes, so I moved to just the right spot and took this photo.

My targeted work in Venice was complete. Now my work back home would begin when I returned.

Final Assembly

My job was to clean up the water a bit, create a duplicate of the actual bridge on the left and move it to the right --, not so much a duplicate that it looks too obvious -- and then do some blending for a seamless construct, just as if the Venetian craftsmen hundreds of years ago had done the job themselves.

Here what I had at this point.

What remained was to composite in the gondole with ferro and risso I had captured on my strolls, and to create their reflections in the water as they passed by me in a ‘Procession’.

And finally, I converted the image to black and white, as the color was not really a particularly integral element of the final image, which is about balance, symmetry and timing.

So, there you have it.

I think that the targeting, and many times the stakeout, are what defines fine-art photography. I have to admit that most of what I would call fine-art photos are the result of targeting. It is more than just a snapshot, and it often involves several elements (separate photos) that are brought together in an image-editing program (like Photoshop), that make for successful images.

Some might think that a program like Photoshop is cheating, saying things like, "That image was obviously Photoshop'd!". And some are so whimsical, outrageous or hilarious that it's pretty obvious. But, creating an image that fits into the realm of art often requires some sort of manipulation to be successful.

You know that an artist working with paints, woodblock, or any other medium, doesn't always put every element seen before them into their art work, even when they work from a photograph, paint still-life indoors, or en plein air. They are often working strictly from their mind's eye and they are not even documenting something that exists in this world - we've all seen paintings of unicorns, yet we know they don't exist -- right?.

Any artist does what they need to do to get the image they envision onto the medium that they use - it's called 'artistic license', and that's a license that an artist needs to issue to themselves - for me, using my artistic license is what defines fine-art photography.

I hope you enjoyed this treatise on capturing images, and I hope you don't mind seeing what goes on behind the scenes. If you do, just ignore the man behind the curtain.

Ciao, for now!

Steve

Serendipity, Stakeouts & Targeting - Part 1

You’ve taken photos – we all have. Think about your most satisfying images and how they were captured. By ‘how’, I mean how you set about capturing that image, and whether you set out to capture that image at all.

There are typically three ways that we go about the capture of our photographic images.

Serendipity: This is the fortuitous circumstance where things seem to just magically work out for you when you have your camera. Call it chance, fate, providence, coincidence, luck or just good fortune; it was your destiny to get that shot. A rainbow appears but for a few moments, and you are there to capture it. The newborn yawns for the first time and you say ‘hold it!’ as you click your camera shutter. Your 5-year-old catches an 18” rainbow trout and you pull out your camera for that once-in-a-lifetime event. Many of our photos are caught serendipitously, but in fine-art photography, serendipity is rare.

A Stakeout: This involves surveillance, observation and just hanging out at a particular spot waiting for just the right moment to come along. Whether it’s a bird alighting on a pre-focused branch, stars aligning with the moon, your child screaming on the slide just before they reach the bottom, a salmon jumping upstream right into the mouth of an awaiting bear (he, too was on a stakeout), getting a wave frozen in time as it crashed against the rocks, two gondole arriving at precisely the right time, or whatever – it’s the situation where you need things to be just perfectly aligned for the shot to work. One must set up a vigil and wait, wait, wait for it…

Targeting: I will define targeting as planning and then going after the image, doing whatever it takes to get the image that was envisioned. You have a goal in mind, an objective, and an intention to capture a certain final image. All wedding photographers work from a shot list that targets their trademark shots. The portrait photographer targets a certain look as they have you drop your right shoulder, raise your chin and look to the left to capture that ‘un-posed’ portrait. And targeting can involve having several photos on your shot list that will later be combined into that one final image that you were targeting. When we travel to Italy, I often have a shot list, and several final images in mind, as I go about photographing - and I have to check my shot list often.

Combinations: Often, getting the targeted image that you envision requires a stakeout, so a combination is often needed. I’ve taken photos where I envisioned the final image, and then I had to set up a vigil to accomplish the final photograph.

Here are a couple of examples of what I mean by these terms.

The photo below was a result of a Stakeout and Targeting.

I knew exactly what I wanted the finished photo to look like even before leaving home. I targeted the location that I knew was integral to the shot (in this case the Rialto Bridge in Venice). And, I knew that I was going to have to be staked-out for about an hour to accomplish what I had envisioned (I took over 80 photos in an hour’s time of boats on the Grand Canal, all from the same location and perspective). Certain boats from each photo were combined into a image that was selected by National Geographic senior editor Kurt Mutchler for a gallery showing called 'The Art of Travel Photography'.

So, that image was a combination of targeting and then a stakeout.

You be the Judge

For this next image, you decide how the photo below was accomplished. This image, titled ‘Procession’ was part of a four-page portfolio of my Venice images published in ‘Black & White Magazine’ in 2013.

Was this image a result of:

1. A stakeout, where I waited and waited at this location until the two gondole were just perfectly aligned in a ‘Procession’?

3. Targeting, where my goal was to get an image that I envisioned, and which I would call ‘Procession’, and then I went out to make it happen – whatever it took?

I’m now playing the music for the Final-Jeopardy question as you work on your answer - you have it in your head now, right? And I will keep playing it until next week's blog.

Feel free to put your answer in the Comments box below.

Ciao, for now!

Steve